Prince William’s reprimands to the Queen caught on camera

Queen Elizabeth’s light-hearted rebuke of Prince William at the annual Trooping the Color ceremony has gone viral ahead of this Saturday’s celebrations.

Trooping the Color is the official celebration of the monarch’s birthday each year, which takes place in June. It is marked by a military parade and a balcony appearance by senior members of the royal family at Buckingham Palace before an aerial flyover.

The occasion traditionally offers royal fans the chance to see some of the younger members of the monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth viewing the event as a wider family celebration during her reign.

William made his first appearance on the event’s balcony in 1984, when he was almost two years old. Over the years, fans have spotted a repeated exchange between Queen Elizabeth and her grandson, with the monarch having to gently scold William to pay attention to military planes as they offered their saluting flyby.

Uploaded to TikTok by @windsor.royal.house, a video compilation of this gesture in 1985, 1988 and 2016 has gone viral in recent weeks, gaining more than 400,000 views so far.

The moment when the Queen patted her grandson on the shoulder, directing his attention to the sky, is highlighted. In 2016, the prince leaned down to explain the process to his young son, Prince George.

That year, the event coincided with the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations and attracted large crowds along The Mall, the procession route leading from Buckingham Palace.

As the Queen gestured for William to stand and watch for the planes, the royal was seen briefly apologizing and getting into position for the salute.

Captioned “The moments Prince William got scolded by the Queen during his balcony appearances”, the TikTok video has so far received over 24,000 likes and over 150 comments, including a number praised the relationship between grandmother and grandson.

“She said ‘get up’,” one Queen user wrote, including a laughing emoji.

“I miss our queen, she did a great job preparing William,” another TikToker posted, with an additional comment saying: “Prince Louis looks like his dad in 1985.”

When Queen Elizabeth died in 2022 and King Charles III took the throne, he took to the flag parade. 2023 marked his first as Sovereign, saluting the color (banner) of the Welsh Guards Regiment of the British Army.

This year it is the turn of the Irish Guards and it will be a special event as it is the first major national celebration led by the King since his cancer diagnosis was announced in February.

James Crawford-Smith is News weekThe Royal London Reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on News weekThe Royals Facebook page.

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